Streets & Sidewalks

Water & Sewer

Neighborhood Traffic Management

Last updated Jul. 19, 2017 - 10:17 am

The City of Raleigh wishes to promote safe and efficient public streets that contribute to a positive quality of life for residents. The City is also committed to maintaining and improving the quality of our neighborhoods by mitigating impacts that may detract or adversely affect the places where we live. Positive street design and good traffic management within our neighborhoods are important elements of this goal.

The management of traffic volumes and speeds on residential streets can be a challenge. While all public streets available are for use by the public, it is every driver's responsibility to drive at safe speeds on the streets where we live. But when the drivers don't behave, residents can seek assistance from the Transportation Operations Division in managing issues with neighborhood traffic.

Traffic Calming Program

When speeding problems persist along a street, residents may wish to consider the installation of traffic calming treatments. These treatments physically limit the ability of traffic to move at a high rate of speed. Treatments can include re-engineering the streets to have medians and curb extensions that force drivers to alter their path of travel and subsequently reduce their speeds. Neighborhood Streetscape Projects

In other cases, the City may look at deploying treatments like speed humps to inhibit traffic.

Our division evaluates a street for traffic calming based on several factors and prioritizes each street for treatment based on the severity of the problem. These factors include the amount of traffic speeding on the street, how many speed-related accidents have occurred along the street, and the amount of pedestrian activity in the area.

Traffic Calming Project Under Review

Residents and associated neighborhoods along the top ten streets on the traffic calming project list were sent ballots. These ballots were to measure support for a traffic-calming project along their particular street on the list. The voting has ended and the votes have been tabulated. The numbers below show the percentage of ballots returned and of the returned ballots the percentage that approved the project. At the August 15 City Council meeting staff will make a formal presentation and seek approval to move to the design phase.

The following streets met or exceeded the thresholds needed to move the project forward.

Street Ballots:

Street Name

60% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

70% Threshold Met

Fairview Road - SE

72.09%

28

90.32%

Pineview Drive

76.67%

36

78.26%

Sycamore Grove Lane

73.68%

13

92.86%

Chester Street

76.19%

13

81.25%

Granville Drive

64.15%

32

94.12%

Huntleigh Drive - N

61.43%

42

97.67%

Neighborhood Ballots:

Street Name

25% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

60% Threshold Met

Fairview Road - SE

57.09%

143

88.82%

Pineview Drive

53.77%

151

88.30%

Sycamore Grove Lane

45.89%

49

73.13%

Chester Street

53.39%

75

63.56%

Granville Drive

50.42%

72

60.00%

Huntleigh Drive - N

41.72%

186

88.99%

The street listed below only met one of the thresholds required to move the project to the design phase. Under the policy, this street will not move to the design phase. City staff expects this to be confirmed at the August 15th presentation to City Council.Street Ballots:

Street Name

60% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

70% Threshold Met

Scotland Street

54.55%

2

33.33%

Neighborhood Ballots:

Street Name

25% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

60% Threshold Met

Scotland Street

48.24%

26

47.27%

The streets listed below did not meet all of the thresholds needed to move forward to the design phase. Thresholds not meet were based on the number of votes received. The support shown by those that did vote were overwhelmingly in favor of a project. Per the adopted policy, the streets will not be moving to the design phase at this time. However, City Council does have the discretion to make a determination regarding the status of these streets at the August 15th City Council Meeting.

Street Ballots:

Street Name

60% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

70% Threshold Met

Ujamaa Drive

43.48%

50

100%

Grantland Drive

41.18%

35

100%

Edmund Street

57.50%

22

95.65%

Neighborhood Ballots:

Street Name

25% Threshold Met

Number of Yes Votes

60% Threshold Met

Ujamaa Drive

25.46%

74

89.16%

Grantland Drive

22.71%

51

98.08%

Edmund Street

32.74%

95

86.36%

Speed Limit Reductions

One of the first strategies that can be considered is a reduction in the posted speed limit. Speed limit reductions to 25 mph can be considered on any residential street carrying less than 4,000 vehicles per day. In order to start the process, a petition of support from the residents along a street is required. At least 75% of either the adult residents or the property owners along the street are required to agree to the speed limit reduction. Once a completed petition is received for a street, our staff will prepare the request for the City Council's review. Once the Council approves a request, new signs reflecting the change in the speed limit are posted within seven days.

Multiway Stop Control Evaluations

Transportation Operations Division staff conduct evaluations at intersections throughout the City for possible multiway stop control, also known as three-way and four-way stops. Eachintersection is evaluated against established safety criteria todetermine if a location is appropriate for conversion. Thesecriteria include:

Volumes of traffic (cars, bikes & pedestrians) entering the intersection on each approach

The number of accidents that have occurred within the last year at the intersection

The adequacy of the sight distance for each leg of the intersection.

Our staff frequently receives requests for multiway stops for the purpose of reducing speeding on a street. While a stop sign is effective for controlling traffic at an intersection, the reality is that drivers often speed up to make up for lost time between intersections and can actually make the problem worse.

Objectives

The objectives of our division in dealing with neighborhood traffic issues are:

Ensure the public safety of streets in residential areas for drivers and for pedestrians;

Improve multi-modal opportunities within a neighborhood, including enhancements for pedestrian, bicycle, and transit accessibility; and,

Achieve moderate vehicle speeds on residential streets by a combination of policies, physical measures, and public outreach.

When our staff receives a speeding concern from a resident on a street, our first step is to evaluate the extent of the problem. How many cars are using the street? At what speed is the majority of traffic travelling? Are there specific conflicts with pedestrians?